“Caesar” To Go On After Director’s Death

Posted On July 11, 2017

John Slade, in CLUs Kingsmen Shakespeare Company's production of "King Lear" in 2007

Kingsmen Shakespeare Company mourning John Slade

(THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – July 11, 2017) The Kingsmen Shakespeare Company is mourning the unexpected death of John Slade, who was directing this summer’s production of “Julius Caesar,” but the show will go on with the festival’s founder stepping in to bring his colleague’s vision to the stage.

Slade died Friday from injuries he sustained in a car accident. The single vehicle crash occurred Thursday night as he was driving from rehearsal to his home in Ojai.

Michael J. Arndt, founder and artistic director of the Kingsmen Shakespeare Festival, stepped in Saturday to direct “Julius Caesar,” which opens July 21. He is working with associate artistic director Brett Elliott, who is playing Marc Anthony, and Jason D. Rennie, who is portraying Cinna, to present the play as Slade intended.

Slade had set the production in modern Rome and put together a cast featuring several gender-swapped and unconventionally portrayed characters. Women play the traditionally male roles of Cassius, Messala, Soothsayer and Lucius. Cinna the Poet is Nigerian and two of the immigrants are Persian.

William Shakespeare, a royalist when there were a number of plots against Queen Elizabeth’s monarchy, wrote “Julius Caesar” to show how the violent removal of a powerful leader can only lead to chaos, according to Slade.

This would have been Slade’s fourth time directing a Kingsmen production. He began by directing “Henry V” in 2004. An integral part of the company, he also acted in many of the festival’s plays, including the title role in “King Lear” in 2007.

Slade had a varied career as a director, stage and screen actor, teacher, musician and writer. His started out more than 40 years ago at the University of Michigan, where he and classmate Gilda Radner founded a repertory company that juxtaposed drama, comedy and music. In recent years, the former Nordhoff High School English and theater arts teacher toured the country performing his one-man concert play, “Walt Whitman, Live.” He earned many awards for writing, directing and acting from Drama-Logue, Drama Circle, Valley Theatre League and other organizations.

“Julius Caesar” is the second and final production of the festival’s 21st season. The political tragedy will be presented at 8 p.m. July 21 through 23, July 28 through 30, and Aug. 4 through 6 in Kingsmen Park on the Thousand Oaks campus of California Lutheran University. The Kingsmen Shakespeare Company is the professional theater company of Cal Lutheran.

Thank you for sharing this story. The Theatre Community in Ventura County lost a talented actor/director/musician/playwright/poet. Many of us are also mourning the loss of a much beloved friend. John touched many people’s lives, with his kind heart, caring and compassionate nature, intellect and wit, and his whimsical humour. I worked with him in 2003, in Ojai Shakespeare Festival’s production of “King Lear”. I played Regan, and John played King Lear. He was a joy to know and work with. Rehearsals were like an acting class, as I saw him explore all the facets of Lear – the kindly father, the temperamental monarch, the aging and mad old man. As an actor, he kept us on our toes, as we never quite knew how he would play a scene. That is the measure of a true actor – one who listens and reacts, and is “in the moment”. Last year, he directed “Uncanny Valley” at the Elite Theatre Company, and I watched in rehearsal as he encouraged the actors to discover their characters’ motivations and relationships. “Now cracks a noble heart. Good night sweet prince:
And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!”